By Jim Glendinning
Contributing Writer

When news spread locally about four years ago that two restauranteurs from New York were planning to move to Marfa and open a restaurant, those interested in these matters hoped that the partners had studied the demographics and economy of the area.

Tom Rapp and Toshi Sakihara, formerly of Etats-Unis restaurant on New York City’s upper East Side, arrived in 2005, and spent more than two years restoring an adobe house in downtown Marfa and making ready an adjoining restaurant, which they named Cochineal.

Opened in May 2008, Cochineal aims to repeat the food philosophy of their New York restaurant: dishes based on a variety of ethnic cooking traditions in the USA. “Mom’s food, cooked better” is how one of Cochineal’s kitchen staff describes it. This philosophy and cooking prowess earned their last restaurant stars from the New York Times and Michelin.

Visitors to Cochineal enter through a courtyard, trimmed trees and gravel underfoot, to find a 30-seat restaurant with spare décor. Three additional two-person tables are spaced along a wall in the kitchen area, permitting the diners there to hear and watch the cooks at work, only feet away.

When I belatedly got to Cochineal, it was with a tour group. These well-heeled food enthusiasts tasted every spoonful, declared themselves delighted, and thanked the youthful cooks by inviting them out of the kitchen to a round of applause. Tom Rapp, who had mainly been supervising out front, was delighted by this public show of appreciation. This was the first sign to me about something unusual with this restaurant. The short menu was different from anything local (five items in each category) for example: cheese soufflé as a starter, chilaquiles in a clay pot, and date pudding (Toshi’s specialty) as dessert.

Sitting down with Rapp recently, I asked a for a situation report. He seemed satisfied, particularly with the kitchen staff. The kitchen staff and waiters are in their teens or early twenties. They were learning how to work together as a team, as well as how to prepare and cook specific dishes. They were making mistakes, but learning from them and gaining in confidence. Watching them grow in the job was his greatest pleasure.

When he arrived in Marfa, Rapp had been warned that getting good staff would be a challenge. He had been able to find young staff, and to train and motivate them, proving the naysayers wrong. The restaurant was no longer being subsidized and was, happily, developing a repeat clientele. After initially serving evenings only, Cochineal is now open daily for breakfast, as well.

Rapp reflected on the nature of his second career; previously, he was an architect. This work relies a lot on teamwork, he said. The kitchen takes most of his attention, preparing and cooking food himself, and instructing the staff, all of which requires constant involvement. His policy is to treat the employees with respect, and to train them as if for a career.

After the end of an evening session, when the staff sits down to eat, he regularly pours wine (to those 21 and older) so they can learn an appreciation of wine. His aim is to keep things interesting. Boredom and apathy are his enemies. The biggest single weakness he finds among his staff is lack of attention to detail. He attributes these to both the staff’s youthfulness and never having been trained otherwise.

Asked about how many employees he had, he pulled out a sheet from behind the cash register and counted off thirty names. The majority was part-time wait staff and the rest were either the breakfast crew or the evening cooks. It was this latter group in which I was most interested. I later came back and talked with four of them, all from Marfa.

Dish washer and general cleaner, Ryan Penland, 24, also bakes the bread. He has been at Cochineal for one year. Having previously bounced around in a variety of jobs, locally, his job at Cochineal now provides stability and the opportunity to learn. The Cochineal kitchen is often a busy place and the food business is good for him. “Finally, I have good-paying job and can afford to rent”, he said.

Erik Quintana, 18, works 40 hours a week, and has learned “an incredible amount,” thanks to Tom and Toshi’s clear instructions and constant supervision. He concentrates on appetizers and desserts. He enjoys the excitement of serving a lot of people, and their appreciation. (“That was the best meal I ever ate,” he heard one customer say.)  He likes being part of a team, working in harmony. He aims to stay a while and to learn more and he expects his future will be in preparing food.

Jonathan Lujan, 20, says he learns something every day. He feels Tom and Toshi want to pass along their cooking experience: “They really want us to learn.” He is constantly picking up tips, like how to improvise with what’s on hand. For example, if a called-for herb is missing, learn to substitute. He feels a personal freedom of expression in the kitchen, and says that the kitchen works because everyone is doing all he or she can to make the customer happy.

Anthony Cano, 20, talks about teamwork in the kitchen and how communication is vital in a busy restaurant. He feels Tom and Toshi want the cook staff to understand how they see food, that food is not just to be eaten but is an experience to enjoy. He compares working in a kitchen, under pressure, to a ballet, where everyone must be in synch for the performance to work. He goes into details of food presentation, offering specifics about how the food on a plate needs to look natural in its appearance. “I enjoy cooking and intend to pursue it for a lifetime,” he says.

Diners at Cochineal pay top dollar (by local standards) for an evening meal with a glass of wine. It’s a reflection of the owners’ success in training the staff so well that they can now leave for a day or two, with confidence that the restaurant will function more or less normally. Warned that they would have problems finding good staff, Tom and Toshi have proven that thinking wrong.

Jim Glendinning lives in Alpine. He writes a regional guidebook Adventures in the Big Bend and has a travel program on Marfa Public Radio. He takes groups to Ireland and Scotland.



(From right to left): Anthony Cano, Erik Quintana, Ryan Penland, Frank Marquez at work in Cochineal kitchen. (Jim Glendinning, photo)